Province pondering Ottawa's proposal to change impaired driving laws

The Wynne Liberals are mulling over a proposal by Ottawa to change the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers.

The feds want to see it go from 0.08 to 0.05.

"We still do see that far too many people are driving both impaired and distracted. Over the last number of years we've seen a massive spike. It's a borderline epidemic," says Ontario's Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca. "We, at the Ministry of Transportation, society has been grappling with various forms of impaired driving for more than a generation. We've had some success but we still do see that far too many people are driving impaired and also distracted.

He wants more help when it comes to distracted driving, too. "Frankly, I've heard from my federal counterpart Minister Garneau. He recognizes, certainly, when we've had discussions and meetings on the incidents of distracted driving, he understands how critically important it is for us to come up with some kind of national response on distracted driving that makes sense."

Del Duca expects the province to have more to say in the coming weeks, responding to Ottawa's request for input on changing impaired driving laws.

The Mckenzie Vaughan Hospital is scheduled to be completed in late 2020 and when it opens, the west wing of the building will be named the 'De Gasperis-Muzzo Tower,' after the families behind a new $15 million charitable contribution.